OK so you have purchased a new zip drive and now you want to use it.
Some distributions have the modules already built. You can try insmod ppa
for starters. (Make sure you have it hooked up and a disk inserted).
If the ppa program is not there, then configure the kernel.
My machine has 2 parallel ports, one for the zip and one for the printer.
This makes things easy, no cable switching.

Configure the kernel:

cd /usr/src/linux

make xconfig

scsi support = Y

scsi disk support = Y

Iomega zip support as a module

printer support also as a module

save it and exit

make dep

make clean

make zImage or zlilo or zdisk

make modules

make modules_install

Now to use the drive:

load the module insmod ppa

build a mounting point. mkdir /zip

insert a preformatted windoze type disk into the drive.

mount the disk. mount -t vfat /dev/sda4 /zip

use any standard file commands as in l /zip, ls /zip, df, cp,

when you are finished umount /zip

If you had trouble with any of the previous steps, see the following
sections for more detailed instructions.